October 31, 2012

Unique bond formed out of quadruple Grayson County homicide in 1983

It's not that Shari Bower (left) and Robbie Dutton (right) are friends. But it's clear that after nearly three decades, beginning with a horrific discovery in an airplane hangar near Sherman, they aren't enemies, either.

In October 1983, Dutton's husband, Jerry Mack Brown, was among four men -- the others were Bob Tate, Philip Good and Ronald Mayes -- shot execution-style inside a hangar at Tate's B & B Ranch.

Bower's husband, Lester Leroy Bower, was arrested three months later. Bower was convicted and sentenced to die. Ever since, in state and federal courts, Bower and his lawyers have been fighting to prove his innocence. This week's hearing in Sherman was the latest skirmish, as Bower's team presented dramatic testimony from two women who said a drug gang, not Bower, killed the men.

"Shari has had a loss, too," Dutton said Tuesday. "It's different from our own, but she didn't do anything, and her daughters didn't do anything. As a Christian, I let go of that anger and that hate a long time ago. I have no reason to be anything but kind to her and her daughters, and I will continue to do so."